Touching Him Like He Wanted Him
by Impersonating-an-entity
Summary: Rated for shonenai. Very, very Fluffy any more so and I would barf. GaaraXLee. Few people ever touch Gaara outside of combat, and the boy is starved for human contact. Lee has been training Gaara in taijutsu and being around such a pretty young boy s


"You're getting… a lot better!" Lee commented between punches as Gaara ducked and managed to kick Lee's feet out from under him. Lee instinctively threw his arms back and flipped back onto his feet just in time to catch Gaara's fist in his face – Gaara's move might not have had quite the desired effect but it gave him enough time to prepare a charge.

Lee barely dodged and felt his balance going, so he turned his falling momentum into power for his own attack as he slammed his shoulder into Gaara's chest and they both fell into a tangled heap. "I have a good teacher…" Gaara groaned as he winced. He'd kept his sand out of the match so the fall had not been cushioned – instead he'd slammed into hard-packed dirt.

Naruto had discovered one day that Gaara knew almost no taijutsu because no one had ever expected he'd have a need for it, and since then Naruto and Gaara had been taking lessons and sparring with Konoha's number one taijutsu expert, the beautiful green beast Rock Lee.

"No sweat…" Lee commented as Gaara gestured he was done for the moment and Lee pulled himself up on shaky arms over Gaara.

Gaara chuckled. "Actually, quite a lot…" he said, jerking a little in surprise as a drop fell from Lee's nose onto his cheek.

Lee grinned. "You should do that more often," he said, thumbing Gaara's nose.

Gaara looked surprised and flinched at the contact, a habit he couldn't and would probably never really break. He'd lived too young too long in fear of being killed. He didn't mind the touch but he couldn't hide his surprise or the question in his pale sea green eyes. "Do what?" he asked, staring up at Lee in confusion.

Lee grinned and offered a thumbs-up. "That! Laugh; make jokes. Smile!" He really liked it when Gaara did so. Gaara was so odd and he seemed so distant so much of the time. It made Lee feel as though his friend was miles away and that Gaara was isolated. Lee didn't like that feeling. When Gaara smiled and acted carefree like a normal 15-year-old boy, Lee didn't get that feeling, in fact, he felt like Gaara was… different. Important, special somehow… Lee couldn't put exact words to it, but he got an odd sort of feeling of pride, especially when he was the cause for Gaara's light-heartedness.

"Why?" Gaara asked, smiling anyway. None of Gaara's smiles were really big, but they reached his eyes better than his mouth, and now those cool bluish-green eyes lit up brilliantly. Gaara still didn't exactly understand this feeling, this happiness and the desire to show it so plainly, but he enjoyed it and he didn't mind showing the world. If Lee wanted him to smile more, why shouldn't he? As long as he had something to smile about, why not smile?

"Because…" Lee shrugged. "I don't know… it makes you closer. It's nice," he said, unsure how to explain himself. Gaara still looked confused. His brows were furrowed slightly and his eyes, while happy, looked like they were searching for something, looking deep into Lee's own dark eyes. Lee didn't know how to explain… but he really liked the way Gaara looked at him like that… He closed his eyes and leaned down and kissed him.

Gaara's eyes widened and he squirmed in surprise a moment, the sand in the ground gathering around him, but after a moment he relaxed. Even so, Lee pulled away, looking regretful; feeling like he'd crossed a line. "I… I'm sorry, Gaara," he said, beginning to pull himself up.

Gaara reached up, "Wait," he murmured, as the sand he'd unwittingly summoned pressed lightly down on Lee's back. "I don't mind…" he said, looking a little unsure of himself too. No one had ever done that to him… He knew it was important, he knew people only did that to people they really cared about – their most important people. He liked the idea that he was one of Lee's most important people. Even now, people didn't touch him very often – just Lee, Naruto, Temari, Kankurou, and a couple of his other friends, and even that was not frequent. Lee had touched him like an important person. He liked that. He **really** liked that.

It was Lee's turn to look surprised. "Don't mind? What's that supposed to mean?" he asked. Gaara had flinched when he kissed him – not just his instinctive flinching whenever anyone touched him outside of combat, but squirmed, really. Lee didn't like the thought of Gaara 'not minding' him kissing him. If Gaara didn't care, then Lee didn't want to be involved – it would hurt too much to know Gaara didn't love him.

The force of that thought would have knocked him off his feet if he'd been standing. When Lee realized it would hurt to know Gaara didn't love him, he realized the reason was because he'd come to love Gaara. That was insane! Gaara was his friend, was a guy, had tried to kill him! Lee thrust that away. He didn't hold that against Gaara, it was just so hard to really forget. His thoughts were traitorous, to bring that up at a time like this.

Lee started to get up again and the sand pressed him down a little harder, though gentle. "No… I… do it again…" Gaara whispered, staring straight into Lee's soul with those ghostly, eerie eyes of his. He looked so needy for that moment. It was an unusual side of Gaara – these days he always looked like he needed someone around him, but this was different – it wasn't hidden or a vague feeling that made you want to comfort him. Lee was hit with the full force of the loneliness that had plagued Gaara since his birth and it was overwhelming. Gaara never talked about his past these days and he hid the remnants of pain because he had friends now, but he was still terrified of being alone again.

Lee leaned down and shut his eyes and kissed Gaara again, resting his weight on his left elbow and his knees so he could run his right hand through Gaara's messy red hair that was always a little sandy because Gaara didn't mind it and didn't want to get rid of the sand completely and it felt right. The desert's own warmth leaked from the suna-nin's body and the tenseness in Lee's muscles faded as he noticed how soft Gaara's lips were. He tasted warm and a bit like blood from his sand armor and like some strange foreign spice that was a bit spicy and a bit musky. It was mostly a good taste, although Lee would have preferred the absence of that metallic tang.

As for Gaara, he wasn't exactly sure what to do, but he had an urge to touch Lee, so, slowly, because he didn't understand it and he was afraid of Lee's reaction, he let his hands rise off the ground and rest at Lee's waist. His pale hands were a very slight presence, but Lee noticed all the same and was shocked but pleased – Gaara never initiated a touch, though he was content to let others touch him.

Spurred on by this ghostly presence at his waist, Lee gently pressed his tongue against Gaara's lips. Gaara's eyes opened – he was confused. He opened his mouth to try to ask a question and Lee's tongue slipped in. He tensed and forced himself to relax immediately, remembering seeing Sakura and Naruto do this before, on occasion. It was all right – it was supposed to be good. He let his eyes close and enjoyed Lee touching him like wanted him.

Lee was so warm… It was nice to feel another person's warmth on him – he always felt he was cold like on a desert night, even in the full noon heat of the desert day. Lee's touch was warm and healing on skin that was used to frigid air and scalding hot sun. It was a warmth that went deeper than his skin. His hands slid around Lee's mid-back, pulling the green beast down onto him. He loved the way Lee's hand went through his hair, knocking sand away and playing with the garnet strands.

Lee's big hand slid down to tuck strands behind Gaara's ear and Gaara shuddered. He didn't know why, but that felt really good. He pushed up into the kiss, purring low in his throat. Lee broke the kiss with a gasp for air and Gaara echoed him – they were both still out of breath from sparring. Lee slid his finger down where Gaara's ear attached to the back of his head and Gaara shuddered, smiling as large as Lee had ever seen him, tightening his hold at Lee's back.

Lee liked kissing Gaara – the sand-boy was inexperienced, but that would change, and it was actually pretty cute the way he let Lee take over and tried now and then to help when he thought he had the idea. Gaara had so much heat stored up, just below his skin. Lee didn't understand how his skin could be cool like it was but then for there to be such heat right beneath that, but it was so. Lee marveled at the way Gaara reacted at having his ears touched. What an odd thing to get off on. But he liked that too: liked knowing that he knew that little idiosyncrasy, and knowing he was probably the only one who was aware of it.

"Lee…" Gaara asked, training eyes that begged for truth, fulfillment, up at Lee again. Lee wasn't sure he liked those eyes. On the one hand, having Gaara looking at him so openly, with all of his walls down, so unguarded, so needy, was… disarming, beautiful. But on the other hand… the sadness he saw in those eyes, the memories of pain and betrayal, of people who had hurt him when he had nothing left… Those feelings overwhelmed him, and he felt such regret for the life Gaara had lived. If ever there was a time when a man drowned in his lover's eyes, it was now, when Lee was enveloped in that most sincere, terrible pain.

"Yeah?" he asked simply, unable to think coherently with Gaara's eerie, pained eyes focused on him, swallowing him whole. He wanted to do anything to make those eyes happy again, to make those eyes shine and that mournful curve of Gaara's pale, thin lips to turn up in happiness. He traced the symbol on Gaara's forehead, carefully brushing away unruly strands of hair.

"I'm an important person to you, then? That kind of important person?" Gaara asked. He knew he was **an** important person to Lee; the Green Beast had told him so shortly after he'd returned to stay in Konoha… but was he really **that** important? He knew kisses like that were meant for a person you considered your other half. Could he really be Lee's other half? Gaara realized he'd been spending a lot of time with Lee lately, and that he'd thought of Naruto less often. Maybe he'd been wrong – he and Naruto shared the knowledge of the pain of loneliness and of being tormented by a literal inner demon, but perhaps that knowledge was not necessarily the decisive factor. Naruto had taught him many things, sure, but he'd also been taught many good lessons by Lee, and not merely in taijutsu. He'd learned forgiveness and grace; he'd learned about simple things and things Lee didn't even realize he was teaching.

Lee smiled and brushed a feather light kiss on the 'tattoo' at Gaara's forehead. "Yeah. You're my most important person, the person I love…" he said, brushing the mark again with his lips. "Gaara… I don't know what all has happened to you, but I know someone you cared about lied to you before and said they loved you…" Gaara tensed, unsure where Lee was going and reliving the memories like it was all happening that very instant, as he was still wont to do – his grasp of time, while it had improved, was still not one would consider 'normal' or 'chronological'. "But I swear to you Gaara, I swear it, I'd never lie to you." Lee grinned and gave his signature thumbs-up.

Gaara recognized it – Lee's 'nice guy' pose. Any promises he made or words he gave in that pose could be trusted. It was a quirk of his character. Gaara smiled softly, his eyes closing with a relieved sigh. "I… I trust you…" he murmured, having difficulty because he'd lived so long unable to trust anyone, but deciding he could and would and would have to trust Lee. Lee had trusted him all these years despite first impressions. It was time Gaara made it clear both to Lee and himself that he trusted Lee. He couldn't say love yet – he was too unsure of what 'love' really meant or what his feelings qualified as.

However, Lee knew what it meant to Gaara to be able to say that, knew how hard it would be for Gaara to accept the circumstances and he couldn't ask for more. He was thrilled for how much Gaara had already given him. Lee sat up and helped tug Gaara into a sitting position. Gaara kept beaming (or as close as he could manage) and Lee noticed with satisfaction that the sadness in Gaara's eyes had vanished, at least for the time being. Lee wanted to make sure he was always around when that sadness came, so he could hug and kiss Gaara until it went away. That seemed an oddly poetic thought to Lee, and he wrapped his arms around Gaara's shoulders. "Gaara! I'm never going to let you hurt like you used to again! I won't let those memories bother you anymore! I'll hold you and kiss and whisper to you until you're all better, from here on out!" He declared proudly.

Gaara was shocked. So much… for him? No one ever thought to help him like that. Sure, when he seemed troubled, others would try and help – Temari would get him some tea and talk to him, Naruto would take him for ramen, Shikamaru would listen and Lee would hug him… But no one ever promised to be there, no one ever promised him anything more than planning to meet for lunch or train after breakfast and that kind of thing. His eyes widened and then, for what had to be the first time since he was six and that horrible incident occurred, he burst into sobbing tears, and wrapped his arms around Lee once again, holding onto Lee like his only life line while lost out at sea.

Lee jolted, alarmed at Gaara's reaction – sobs were the **last** thing he expected! "Ga-Gaara! What's the matter!" he asked, tightening his arms in response to Gaara and rubbing the suna-nin's back soothingly. He was worried – had he somehow done something wrong? Please don't say after all that he'd messed up now! He was trying to help!

"N-No one's… ever… d-done someth-thing… like this… f-for me!" Gaara bawled, almost as surprised as Lee was at his own behavior. He struggled to stop crying, his body shaking in the effort as he nearly choked trying to hold back the sobs. Why was he crying! This was… more than he could ever have dreamed for! What was wrong with him!

Lee patted Gaara's head with one hand while the other stayed at his back. "I'm so sorry for that… don't worry, you can cry as much as you like. You could probably use a good cry anyhow, you little stoic…" Lee teased gently. It's not like he was worried about getting his shirt wet – he was already soaked with sweat from training anyhow. A few tears wouldn't hurt. If he hadn't know the little he did know about Gaara's past, though, he would have been shocked at the amount of tears in that one little desert shinobi.

"A-arigatou! Arigatou, Ree-kun!" Gaara said, sobbing so hard he couldn't even manage to pronounce Lee's name correctly. It was strange enough when he could talk normally, and with the way he shook he simply couldn't pronounce that difficult 'L' sound. He was just so relieved… so relieved to know he had a person he could definitely go to in need, someone who cared for him and touched him like he wanted him.

Lee couldn't help but grin a little at the small error. He was fairly used to people having trouble with his name anyhow, and Gaara had all the right in the world to get it wrong just this moment. Lee kept trying his best to comfort Gaara, not eloquent enough to offer words, but simply giving Gaara the human contact the boy was so starved for. His warm arms and gentle hands were better medicine than any words or any remedy Tsunade-sama could have cooked anyway. Before long, Gaara's sobbing subsided, leaving his cheeks covered in tiny tear tracks, his eyes red and his body jerking with hiccups. Even those went away though, and Gaara closed his eyes and leaned his head on Lee's shoulder, and did his favorite thing in the whole world – he fell asleep. He'd never slept better, either.

When Gaara fell asleep Lee was content to remain that way for a long time, but eventually he realized it was growing dark. With a sigh, he carefully picked up Gaara and carried the sleeping boy into the village bounds and to his own home, where he set Gaara down on his own bed and, after a quick snack and a change into his pajamas, he joined him.

Gaara woke to see the beautiful green beast lying next to and facing him, a warm, heavy hand delicately laying on his cheek, their chests breaths away and warmth mingling. He snuggled a little closer to Lee till their chests touched and their legs tangled and decided he could be very happy there for all eternity. He wasn't sure what exactly he felt for Lee, but if Yashamaru's words about love had been true, not just another enticingly lie… If what he believed about love to be true, then perhaps… perhaps that feeling in his chest that was so much like Lee's hand on his cheek was love. He thought it could be. He was certainly willing to find out. He let his own small, pale, cool-and-warm hand rest on Lee's, gently interlocking the fingers. With a grateful sigh, he went back to sleep, finally certain of what 'contentment' meant.


End file.
